In today's New York Times, there's a brief article detailing Major League Baseball's success with Internet video. Unlike most content sites, MLB.com has been able to build a large paying subscriber base for their online broadcasts of games. So far, MLB.com has amassed an audience of over 500,000 who pay $120 per season for broadband access to games out of their home markets. They also have 350,000 additional fans who pay $15 a season for podcast access to radio broadcasts. These are huge numbers for any subscription based web service and represent a growing ancillary market for MLB.
This season, MLB.com will be rolling out MLB.TV, which will represent a massive upgrade in streaming services. Some of the new features include technology that tailors the bit rate of game feeds to match the broadband access of users and providing subscribers with the ability to pause and rewind live games. MLB.TV will also offer live radio broadcasts over cellphone networks in an effort to increase penetration into a fast growing market that their competitors such as the NFL and NBA have made a priority.
When it comes to online content, it is interesting that baseball has managed to stay far ahead of its competitors by exploiting facets of the game itself that have traditionally been viewed as weaknesses. Specifically, the high number of day games and the large amount of inventory that has hampered baseball in negotiations for television contracts are large strategic advantages when it comes to syndicating content on the web.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/technology/internet/09mlb.html?_r=1
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